Pegasus Run 3305 - Day 13
12 Oct 2019Flemish Jack
07:43:11 10-12-05Dropped back in to the VIVVY GX-L D7-8 system to enter holding orbit around the A2 planetary body. Hot standby for the 0800 mass jump to Waypoint #3. CMDR Vel Eshti had a similar idea. CMDRs Dracosalpha and Tenna were also in system awaiting go orders. The 3 other folks rendezvoused dirt-side for CMDR Tenna's SRV stunt show. He successfully mounted his SRV atop his Mamba more than once. Bravo sir! Not to be left out I adjusted vector for final approach to Base Camp. Gliding in I had visual on the group so adjusted slightly to rendezvous. Now for those of you who smartly procured an aftermarket comms suite may have seen a text only message from me on an open channel where I referred to myself as an idiot savant. An hour ago I thought I was being funny. At this point I'm beginning to think their may be something to it i.e., I may be more self aware than I give myself credit.
So there I was....
As mentioned had a solid visual on the rally point. Unbeknownst to me CMDR Vel Eshti notified the group that Flemish Jack was on short final. So naturally everyone looked spaceward for the incoming Cutter. Now I will caveat the next statement with another self awareness moment, I'm still mad at A2 for blowing up my DBX. Why is that important you ask? Well dear reader that's because I decided to fight the planet. Get my licks in as they say.
I came into the LZ way too hot. The plan was to flare at the last minute and touch down like a boss. Did I mention waaaay too hot? Yeah that ridge came out of nowhere. Impact alarms shouting warnings, scope terrain render is suddenly displaying a ridgeline that wasn't previously there. I crank the nose up and boost as hard as possible (to maximize the stern kick to the planet of course) and WHAM! "Shields off-line. Taking hull damage. Hull integrity critical." HAHA! Take that stupid space rock! How do you like them apples?!
Meanwhile my brand new friend CMDR Tenna nearly falls out of his SRV laughing. Glad I wasn't plugged into their local voice channel or I might have gotten my feelings hurt. He laughed the hardest (everyone laughed - I would have too had I been wearing clean undies), as he is intimately familiar with the handling characteristics of the Gutamaya Cutter (or distinct lack thereof - he flew one for Distant Worlds 2) therefore saw the future as I came in thrusters blazing above Mach 1. For the record space fans, I did not catch on fire. Vel pumped a couple of robots at me and I was once again structurally right as rain.
Should you think that my failure to properly control small and large vessels is due to inexperience...it's not. Back in Vel's and my Imp Navy days, my call-sign shortly after I graduated from the academy was Whiskey-Tango. This was a sort of brevity code for "Watch This." Yep, I'm a bit of a "Oh yeah? Hold my beer" kind of cat. Have I mentioned you don't get to pick your call-sign? Yeah, you don't. In general once you receive your call-sign (a sort of badge of honor) it follows you for your whole career. Mine didn't. I won't go into the details as this missive is already far too long, but when I mustered out my call-sign was "Mayday." I imagine you can guess why. Really glad I incorrectly called away a Mayday rather than the correct Pon-Pon because...obviously.
Anyway, once repaired we all vectored back into orbit, winged up for nav lock, and dropped out of cruise for some photo-ops and to plot next system jump.
All-in-all this was a successful mass jump out of system. Made some new friends, had a blast, and we've all agreed to meet up at subsequent waypoints and/or trade POI info for rally prior to.
Until next time, don't be like me, fly safe commanders.
Flemish Jack - OUT